Zohran Mamdani is filling disillusioned Americans with hope and inspiration | Osita Nwanevu

Whatever he manages to accomplish as mayor, much of potentially national significance can be learned from his candidacy alone

The thing that should surprise us most about Zohran Mamdani's election is that it wasn't a surprise. Well before the result was called on Tuesday night, weeks of reliable surveys had already suggested his victory in New York's mayoral race, by a nine point margin over former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, would be a foregone conclusion - an extraordinary finish for a man unknown to the vast majority of New Yorkers when he launched his run just over a year ago. The campaign that followed was one of the greatest in American history.

True as it may be that both Cuomo and incumbent mayor Eric Adams were deeply flawed candidates marred by scandal, it was by no means inevitable that Mamdani would be the leading candidate against them - as recently as February he was polling at 1% in the Democratic primary, well-behind a slew of challengers with more name recognition, more experience and deeper roots in city politics. They were defeated by an ever-growing army of volunteers - 90,000 by the summer - led substantially by organizers from the Democratic Socialists of America. Early in the campaign, it was a given to many commentators that an openly leftist campaign for the mayorship of the world's financial capital would face impossible headwinds. In Tuesday night's victory speech, Mamdani opened with a quote from Eugene Debs. Per exit polling from CNN, one out of four New Yorkers who went to the polls described themselves as socialists.

Osita Nwanevu is a Guardian US columnist